Sound step on road to hands-free future

By PETER GRIFFIN

It had been a romantic notion of mine for some time - leaning back in my chair wearing a microphone and dictating my rambling thoughts to my computer without laying a finger on the keyboard.

The computer would then read back the passage in a pleasant non-robotic voice, allowing me to edit the text with voice commands, my eyes closed in concentration, hands clasped behind my head.

Well, in practice things didn't quite go like that. There's no denying that voice recognition software has made giant leaps and that NaturallySpeaking, as software packages go, is probably the best of the bunch on the market.

But to even scratch the surface of all the features it offers you will need the time and inclination to learn how to train and use them. In other words, you've got to have a good reason to avoid using the keyboard for NaturallySpeaking to be of much use to you.

Despite its complexity, the software is quite easy to set up. In 30 minutes you are guided through wizards that set up the microphone and quickly have you reading to the computer so it can learn your vocal traits. You're encouraged to repeat the process a few times so the computer can more accurately interpret your voice.

A Dragon toolbar will appear on your desktop and will accompany you as you enter applications, allowing you to turn on your microphone and adjust settings. It interacts with all the applications of Microsoft Office, and other popular software such as Lotus Notes and Word Perfect. You can even design your own voice commands for software that is not readily supported.

I managed to dictate most of this review in Microsoft Word, cut and paste it into Outlook Express and email it to my work account, but it was a laborious process.

The writing, or should I say speaking, process had mixed results. Some paragraphs were garbled, while others were 100 per cent accurate. Occasionally, in frustration, I reverted to the keyboard to correct words that just kept coming out the wrong way. The new version is supposed to filter out fillers such as "um" and "uh", but I found mine were usually converted into other words.

But transferring the text into Outlook and dictating the email address was a breeze once the appropriate voice commands had been set up, raising the option of cutting back mouse use for mundane commands.

NaturallySpeaking has 250,000 pre-programmed words, so you should be able to chat to your computer and have most of your words transcribed sensibly - at up to 160 words a minute. But there will always be words that the software is encountering for the first time and needs to learn.

Helping out for New Zealanders is an add-on software package called NZSpeak, which costs $299 and includes thousands of place names, jargon and colloquialisms specific to Kiwi culture and language. In theory then, you should be able to talk about making a pavlova at the family bach at Whangamata and not send your computer into a frenzy.

Once you've mastered the functions, NaturallySpeaking will allow you to do much more than dictate documents. In most Office applications, for example, you can navigate through the commands vocally, printing out a file or cutting and pasting text between documents.

You can also use voice commands to surf the web, speaking URLs into the Internet Explorer address bar and reading the first words of listed links to switch to the appropriate web page. Commands such as "scroll down" and "back" help mouse-free navigation.

NaturallySpeaking also supports some mobile voice recorders, converting verbal notes into text.

When it comes down to it, NaturallySpeaking is of most use for those in the legal and medical professions, and specific versions have been designed for those areas.

Sufferers of RSI (repetitive strain injury) or those with physical disabilities will also find huge benefits in NaturallySpeaking. For the rest of us, it comes down to whether we can stand listening to our own voices at length and how much patience we have in letting NaturallySpeaking learn from us.

A good entree into speech recognition for the home user is the little-known speech function of Microsoft Office XP. It takes about 15 minutes to set up and allows dictation into Word, Excel and other Office applications and verbal commands to be given.

It's a limited form of NaturallySpeaking, but will give you an idea of what to expect without shelling out first.

It's also worth checking that your computer can handle NaturallySpeaking.

A minimum processor speed of 400MHz is recommended, along with 300MB hard-drive space, Windows 95 or later and at least 128MB RAM.

As for the quality of the software's voice, it turned out to be surprisingly human.

Price: $1999 plus GST. For home users, Preferred version 6 sells for $499 plus GST.

NaturallySpeaking